Flora was sitting at a random bar on Earth, absentmindedly stirring her cocktail with the thin straw as she watched the patrons wander around, smiles on their faces and drinks in their hands. She sighed, looking over to a couple who had sat down on the table in front of her, and she frowned at how happy they looked together.

It made her feel awful that she was hoping that the boy was hiding a secret from his girlfriend, a dark and terrible affair that he was involved in when they weren't together, because that meant that she wasn't the only foolish one.

But Flora knew she was just projecting her own experience, as she remembered what had just happened with her and Helia a few days before. Her kind, sweet Helia was someone who she never thought she would ever be with, due to her shyness and inability to flirt, but he had made her the happiest she's ever felt in her life - up until she caught him in the act with another girl.

"How could you do this to me?" Flora cried out, backing away into the hallway as tears fell from her cheeks. Helia scrambled to pull his pants on while Roxy shamefully sat on the bed, naked, trying to hide herself with the blanket that Flora had grown so used to during the many nights she stayed over. Helia followed Flora out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Flora, I didn't mean to-"

"Didn't mean to what? To cheat on me? To have me find out?"

"To hurt you."

"Well, you did."

"It's just- I can't explain it, Flora. I messed up."

Flora let out a sob, covering her mouth with her hand as she shook her head in disbelief. That was all he could say? That he messed up? After months of pursuing her and getting her to trust him, after months of blissful happiness together, he cheats on her with one of her classmates and all he can say is that he messed up?

The last thing Flora thought she was going to see when she went to visit Helia was him in bed with Roxy. Her heart started to feel like it was being clenched inside her chest, and she was finding it hard to breathe. She stared at the raven-haired boy in front of her, and the part of her that still loved him wanted to wrap her arms around Helia, her comfort person, her support, and forget that this ever happened, but she knew she couldn't. Flora stood her ground, holding her head high despite the waterfalls that her eyes were creating on her face.

"I hate you, Helia."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do," Flora said, turning her body around to walk away from Helia. "I really, really do mean it."

Flora wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall, and she picked up her glass and chugged the rest of the contents before getting up from her seat. Sliding the glass onto the bar table back to the bartender, she hurried out of the bar, shivering at the wind that pierced her skin as she walked down the street.

Unsure of where to go, and too many drinks in her system to go back home, she wandered the streets of the foreign city, watching as the people breeze by her, having their own conversations about who knows what. Her body was feeling the alcohol, and the thought of going home and sleeping forever sounded nice, but Flora didn't want to go back to Alfea just yet, because home meant dealing with the other girls' constant "You deserve more than him" and "You'll find someone better."

She already knew that, but it still hurt the same. Helia still cheated.

I can't do this anymore, Flora thought, holding her chest as it tightened more.

She raised another hand to her head, forcing herself to hold back a gag as the realization of how drunk she actually was finally hit her. Flora had ate nothing that day, and the amount of drinks she had versus the actual intake of calories was drastic, and she felt the world begin to spin.

"Oh no," Flora whispered to herself, leaning against the brick wall of the building next to her. A few people walked by her, not giving her a single glance as the tears begin to slide down her cheeks. She was going to pass out in the streets, and no one was going to save her. This was it.

How did it come to this? Where did she go wrong?

Flora sighed, feeling her eyelids get heavier and heavier, and she slowly gave into the blackout. Once her body hit the cement floor, she was out.

A bright light shown through the window, and Flora's eyes fluttered open. She was immediately greeted with a blinding headache, along with the blinding stream of sunlight that was hitting her face. She groaned, bringing both of her hands up to her head to try to control the pain, but it was no use.

Flora turned her body away from the window, shying away from the sunlight to see if that helped, but that's when she realized where she was.

Or really, she didn't realize where she was. The unfamiliar bedroom was a stark difference from the Alfea dorm rooms, with a plain desk shoved against the wall by the door, a closet with the door ajar, and another door leading to the bathroom. Right at her face was a nightstand, and the only thing she recognized on it was her phone and wallet.

Sitting up, Flora also noticed that her attire wasn't what she was wearing last night, and her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. She was in a large black t-shirt, a shirt that was three sizes too big, and the only thing she had on underneath it was her bra and underwear.

Flora gasped at the third surprising discovery when she turned her head to the other side of the bed, where a shirtless male was laying face down besides her.

What happened last night?

Her pounding head was making it hard to remember the details, all she remembered was that she was upset and was drinking at a bar and that was the extent of her memory.

How did she end up here? Where is she? More importantly - who is that?

Flora decided that the first question to be answered was the last one, figuring that he would know the answers to her other questions, and so she got on her knees to peer over the bed, trying to get a good look of his face while ignoring the chiseled back of the figure staring directly at her.

He was buried underneath his pillow, so Flora wasn't able to see his entire head, but holding onto the wall next to him for balance, she leaned further, until she caught a glimpse of maroon hair.

Riven.

Once she placed who the mystery man was, it was only a matter of seconds before Flora's hand slipped and she landed on his back.

"Oh-!" she immediately retreated, glazing a hand across his smooth skin as he shuffled awake, opening his big violet eyes before rolling around so that her view of his back was replaced with his toned chest and abs.

Oh crap, Flora thought as she tore her eyes away from his gorgeous body to make eye contact with his comparably gorgeous eyes that twinkled in tiredness and amusement.

"Good morning."

Flora melted at the tone of his morning voice as she sat at the edge of the bed, playing with the blanket that was covering her legs. "Hi."

"Sorry for uh-," Riven smirked, quickly glancing at the shirt that she assumed was his. "The lack of clothes. You threw up on yourself and I didn't think you would want to sleep in those clothes."

She could feel her cheeks heat up. "Thanks."

Riven only nodded, bringing his hands up to his head as he nonchalantly laid there, eyeing Flora's every move. Flora shifted uncomfortably, moving her legs from underneath her to sit crossed legged on the bed, hands still fumbling with the hems of the blanket.

"So are you going to ask me what happened or are you just going to sit there?"

"Why can't you just tell me?" Flora didn't mean to snap, her headache was killing her, and she opened her mouth to apologize but closed it when Riven chuckled.

"Painkillers' in the drawer next to you, water's in the cup."

Flora pursed her lips, nodding as she turned backwards to grab the items from his nightstand, ignoring Riven's eyes on her thighs that had exposed themselves during the movement. She opened the bottle and gulped down two pills as Riven began talking.

"I was actually following you, per Musa's request." Flora's eyebrow raised as she brought the water to her mouth, and Riven shook his head. "We may be broken up, but desperate times called for desperate measures."

"What, am I the desperate times?"

Riven gave Flora a knowing look, "You drank at the bar for three hours and you were wandering in the streets drunk. You're lucky I was following you, because the minute you fell over, when I was walking up to you, some guys grabbed you and told me that they knew you and they were going to take you home."

"Damn," Riven mumbled to himself, unbuckling his seatbelt as he watched Flora fall to the ground. He had parked a few feet away from her when he noticed her stumbling, but didn't dare to get too close just in case she saw him. Riven didn't know why Musa made it such a big deal that she didn't see him, but now he had no choice.

He got out of his car, locking it behind him as he made his way over to Flora, who was quickly surrounded by a group of three guys.

"Hey," one of them said, grabbing onto her leg, rubbing her bare calf. "She's gone."

"Let's take her back to my place," said another, and Riven wanted to smack that stupid grin off of his face.

"Grab her legs," said the last one, as he crouched down behind Flora's limb body, positioning his hands a little too close to Flora's chest for Riven's liking.

"I'll grab something else, if you know what I mean?" Douche No. 1 laughed.

"Get your fucking hands off of her," Riven growled, walking up from behind them. They all turned to look at him, a dark look on his face as he got closer, fists clenched.

Douche No. 2 stood up, glaring at him. "Relax, bro. She's our friend, she's had too many drinks, and we're going to take her home."

Riven held himself back from laughing, and he had to give the guy props. He said it like he actually believed it, which only made the idea of the situation worse. How many girls did they do this to?

"Yea, right. A girl like her knows ugly ass motherfuckers like you guys? That's actually the unbelievable part."

Douche No. 1 and 3 glanced at each other, shaking their heads as they continued to try to carry Flora, before Riven walked around No. 2 and pushed No. 1 off of Flora, making him release her legs.

"I said, let her go."

No. 1 snarled and shoved Riven backwards as No. 2 yanked him all the way down. Riven grunted as the cement hit his ass, but he didn't feel the pain.

"Get the fuck out of here, boy, before you really get hurt."

Riven smirked as they hurriedly tried to pick up Flora again, but he got up faster. In one swift motion, he kicked No. 2's legs, making him fall to the ground before Riven's foot kicked him in the abdomen, making him groan in pain.

He ran over to No. 1 and socked him in the jaw, his head jutting upwards as his jaw connected with his upper teeth, almost breaking his neck in the process at how hard the Specialist hit him. He fell backwards, and Riven used the opportunity to grab Flora from No. 3's grasp.

The maroon-haired boy held Flora on his side, her head falling into his shoulder as he glared at the last one, whose face was filled with fear. Before Riven could even say anything, the boy ran, leaving his two friends moaning in pain on the floor as Riven chuckled, picking up Flora bridal style and carrying her back to his car.

"Then you threw up in my car."

Flora frowned, embarrassed at her actions and what had enclosed because of it.

"I took you back here, because I had a feeling you weren't ready to go back to Alfea yet."

Biting her lip, she looked away from Riven. He never once moved from his laxed state, and Flora couldn't understand how he wasn't mad or upset at what he had to do for her expense. They were never close, which made it even weirder and unexpected, but Flora was grateful that he was there to save her.

"I really appreciate it, Riven. I didn't even know you had an apartment on Earth."

"My dad lives here, so I have a place for whenever I visit."

There was a pause in the conversation, Flora not knowing why she even brought up the apartment. She wanted a distraction from the situation she was in, the situation that she had brought upon them.

"I don't know what to say," Flora said, looking down at her shirt, but then it just made her blush again at the idea that Riven had to change her. She tried not to think about the fact that Riven saw her naked. She looked up to see Riven grinning at her.

"I'll have to thank you for that one," he winked. "I got a nice view."

Flora's mouth fell open, and her face steamed up as Flora reached over to hit Riven in the chest, which only made him laugh louder.

"I'm kidding."

"You're no better than those guys," Flora joked, shaking her head at Riven.

"That is where you're wrong, my girl. I am way better than those guys."

"I know."

After the small moment of lighthearted teasing, Flora closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Thankfully, the pills had kicked in, her headache was gone, but the pain in her chest still lingered as she ran over Riven's version of the night in her head.

Before she met Helia, before she was hurt by Helia, she would've never drank as much as she did. She would've never allowed herself to get into such a vulnerable position that Riven had to save her, that her friend had to send him to spy on her. Helia had turned her into a person she never wanted to be or expected to be, and she didn't know how she was going to recover from this.

"Look, I know what happened between you and Helia, and I know what everyone tells you when you get cheated on. You'll find someone better. You deserve better. You're better than them. It's useless, well-known crap that people just say because they don't know what else to say," Riven said, and Flora could tell that it was from experience.

She looked back over to Riven, who had moved one hand from his head and placed it on her thigh over the blanket. Her emerald green eyes met his violet ones, and Flora found herself getting lost in his orbs.

"You just gotta take care of yourself, Flo. Think about what's best for you. That's the best thing you can do. It's a selfish world, and you learn the hard way that most people are only in it for themselves. So you have to fight for your happiness, your sanity. If things go bad, let it happen, it's life, as long as you turn out okay. Because you're not going to always have someone to save you."

"Like how you saved me?"

Riven smiled, and Flora realized that this was the first genuine smile that she has seen on him. "I'll be there whenever I can."

Taking a deep breath, Flora felt her chest loosen up, and she was finally able to feel the air in her lungs and her heart beat again, she felt like it stopped ever since she found out about Helia. But she thought about what Riven said, and he was more than right. If Helia was cheating on her, she should be happy to have found out because that meant he wasn't a good person to be with anyways.

Flora smiled, crawling back into the bed and burying herself into Riven's open arms. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he hesitantly placed his hand on her forearm, rubbing it slightly as she gently laid a hand on his chest. Pulling her closer to him, Riven shivered at feeling of her body besides him, her legs wrapped around his and her touch on his skin.

"Thank you for saving me," she whispered, as he pressed his lips on her head.

i really like writing these hehe